This is the third installment of my 86 year old Aunt Eleanor’s memoir.  She’s had polio since she was four months old and just entered the hospital because of a blockage in her colon.  Part of it was removed and she’ll now have one of those colostomy bags.  Her reaction was, “Now I won’t have to worry about laying in my crap all night waiting for my care worker to get me out of bed and clean me up.”  She’s put in bed everyday by 5:00 PM and is alone in the house until 8:00 AM the next morning.  With cuts to California’s budget, she may not have aide workers.  This may well do her in because she does not want to go to a nursing home.

Chapter 4

School

When it came time to start to school my big brother, Bill, would take me in my little red wagon, but there were two neighborhood boys I thought were especially cute and they each wanted to take me to school. That didn’t hurt my brother’s feelings at all. The only problem was which of the boys to choose. It was decided they should take turns as they were starting to fight over the “privilege.”

This one kid, Billy, took me off the sidewalk and into the gutter more than once. I was tired of that, so I took one of my crutches and whacked him. He didn’t care for that, so he took the other crutch and hit me in the nose. Another time he got me up at the top of a steep incline in school and let me go. That was a thrilling ride and I learned real quick how to steer backwards, as there was an incline on the opposite side and I gathered enough speed going down I went half way up the other. We were still good friends and played together until he moved away. I did see him again until he got out of prison. He told me he wasn’t going back and he never did.

It wasn’t until the summer before second grade that any of the teachers had any qualms about my being in their classrooms. Of course they were younger teachers and took me right in stride. However Miss Gall was, to me at the time, more elderly and as she confessed later she worried all summer vacation about having that little “crippled” girl as a student in the fall. Well, my Mom went to school and gave her the same little speech that she had given my other teachers. It was, “Treat her just like the other students. If she falls she will get up. If she gets hurt she will tell you.” It took two such sessions to get Miss Gall to see that using crutches and braces didn’t necessarily make me fragile. Actually, I truly believe she was afraid I would get hurt. She soon discovered I was as tough as the other kids on the playground or wherever. A very important thing to remember if a handicapped person is having a problem: Do Not attempt to help until you ask how it is best to do this and get the okay from the person. Many times it is a detriment to pull on the arms. Just ask how you can help and they will tell you.

I was teased by the other children only on rare occasions. I remember times when the boys would grab my crutches and run with them, but I always had friends around to run and get them back. When they saw it didn’t upset me, they quit.

I did miss one opportunity due because the principal discriminated against me.  There was an opening to be a crossing-monitor. There were other girls doing this job so I had reason to believe that I qualified. It turned out that was not the case as I was rejected for this job by that principal.

Most of the time when small adjustments were needed for me to participate, it came about naturally. For example, the kids were great about letting me play softball with them. I couldn’t run so they put in a pinch runner for me. My crutches did come in handy when we played hopscotch.

When I was in the third grade the school department decided to start what they called the “Sunshine School” which of course was made up of physically challenged kids. Although my Mother and I objected, they decided I should go. I have no idea what I did to discourage them, but my stay lasted one day and I was back in public school with no problem. I led a pretty normal life at school and this is probably why I have always believed, “If a kid can go main stream, let him/her go.”